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The RC Sport Flyers recently received an AMA Club Recognition and Reward Grant for $75. The club is located in Raymore, MO. This year, RC Sport Flyers members met with John Johnson, the superintendent of operations at Jackson County Parks and Rec. These members met to discuss the possibility of making their flying site and park ADA compliant. Within six weeks, there were smooth concrete parking spots and paths, railings and an ADA compliant portable toilet. The club was inspired to make this change from their own member, Brian Mitchell. Brian first joined the club to fly his plane, but he had to worry about his expensive controller falling off of his lap as he maneuvered his wheelchair along the grass and gravel pathways. The park is now the only park out of 2,400 sports flying fields in the nation that are ADA compliant. The AMA Club Recognition and Reward Program was established to encourage clubs to promote model aviation. The AMA offers clubs cash incentives for positive local media coverage for a public event, public service, club announcement, or other coverage. Click here to learn more about this program.

The Kootenai RC Flyers recently received an AMA Club Recognition and Reward Grant for $75. The club is located in Libby, MT. The club hosted their annual Fun Fly on Saturday, July 13th. The event was a good opportunity for experienced and inexperienced pilots to get together, learn, and have fun. They wanted the event to be a fun family-friendly atmosphere and allow everyone to enjoy some time outdoors watching RC planes. The club has 18 members ranging in ages from 5 to 80. The AMA Club Recognition and Reward Program was established to encourage clubs to promote model aviation. The AMA offers clubs cash incentives for positive local media coverage for a public event, public service, club announcement, or other coverage. Click here to learn more about this program.

The Tinley Creek RC Club recently received an AMA Club Recognition and Reward Grant for $75. The club is located in Palos Heights, IL. The club will be hosting their annual Remote Control Helicopter Fun Fly on August 3. The event will be from 9am to dusk and will be held at the AMA field located at 19498 S Cicero Ave, Matteson.  The Fun Fly will include raffles and will feature local professional RC helicopter pilots. They will also have members doing plane and helicopter demos. To get into this event, registrants must have their AMA cards. The fee for pilots will be $15 and this also includes lunch. The event otherwise is free to the public and there will be food and drinks available for a small cost. The event will also have a spot set up for new members and application forms will be available at the event. The AMA Club Recognition and Reward Program was established to encourage clubs to promote model aviation. The AMA offers clubs cash incentives for positive local media coverage for a public event, public service, club announcement, or other coverage. Click here to learn more about this program.

The Owatonna RC Modelers recently received an AMA Club Recognition and Reward Grant for $150. The club is located in Owatonna, MN. The club hosted their Fun Fly on their 8 acres of land that was donated by the previous owners in 1986. Different clubs from around the area were invited to bring whatever RC planes they wanted to and have fun. The club offered free hot dogs and beans in exchange for a free-will donation. The club itself has between 35 and 45 members. If you would like to watch their interview, you can do so HERE. They're episode was on June 18th. The AMA Club Recognition and Reward Program was established to encourage clubs to promote model aviation. The AMA offers clubs cash incentives for positive local media coverage for a public event, public service, club announcement, or other coverage. Click here to learn more about this program.

The Susquehanna Valley Modelers recently received an AMA Club Recognition and Reward Grant for $75. The club is located in Melton, PA. The club hosted the fly-in to allow its members a chance to fly together and invite the public to learn what modeling is all about. 20 pilots attended the event to show their support and fly. The planes flown were made out of a range of different materials from plywood and balsa to foam. THey ranged with wingspans of a couple of feet to up to 12 feet. This event wasn't just like any other event, however. During the fly-in, President of the Susquehanna Valley Modelers, Dave Hughes, and Treasurer, Diana Yarlet, got married on the airstrip of Kaboodle Road. With a passion for the hobby, the two couldn't have imagined a more perfect place to tie the knot. The AMA Club Recognition and Reward Program was established to encourage clubs to promote model aviation. The AMA offers clubs cash incentives for positive local media coverage for a public event, public service, club announcement, or other coverage. Click here to learn more about this program.

After 50 years and some tough decisions, the Cleveland Free Flight Society disbanded and donated their remaining funds to organizations who supported them throughout the years. Rich Weber, former President of the Cleveland Free Flight Society, stated: "When our club members made the difficult decision to disband the Cleveland Free Flight Society after a fifty year run, we had to make some more decisions on what to do with the funds left in our treasury. We made a list of ideas at our final meeting, and then sent out a questionnaire to all of the club members, asking them to vote on where they wanted the donations to go. The results of the membership survey showed that CFFS membership wanted to see that the funds went to the organizations that supported our activities over the years, and to help insure that aeromodeling remained strong for many years to come. The AMA Scholarship Fund and the AMA Foundation were natural choices. We hope the donations will aid those organizations in their work." The AMA Foundation thanks CFFS for their generous donation and wishes the best for everyone involved with CFFS in their future endeavors.

Thirteen students awarded a total of $50,000 for academic pursuits The Academy of Model Aeronautics (AMA) has helped graduating seniors achieve their dreams since 1970, with individual scholarships ranging from $500 to $8,000 each year. This year, $50,000 total was awarded to students. Student scholarships are awarded each year thanks to the generous support of AMA members and AMA Foundation patrons across the country. AMA has awarded more than $1.1 million in scholarships since founding the scholarship program. AMA is happy to announce that 13 high school graduates from across the nation will benefit from the AMA scholarship fund this year. The scholarship money is generated through donations by model aviation organizations, individuals, and AMA members, and a portion of AMA member dues. Award designations are set by the AMA Scholarship Committee, which is made up of model aviation pilots and enthusiasts. The committee evaluates each application and ranks it based on GPA, community involvement, model flying experience, and model flying competition participation. AMA and its foundation want to thank each family that has contributed to the memorial scholarships, as well as the hundreds of other donors to the scholarship program. Without their generous contributions, these gifts would not be possible. AMA would like to congratulate the following students who have been selected this year to receive the Charles Hampson Grant Scholarship and others:

1. Robert Van Zyl (Peachtree, GA): $7,000 Charles Hampson Grant Scholarship; $1,000 Weak Signals Club Scholarship

1. Stoil Avramov (Elkridge, MD): $2,000 Charles Hampson Grant Scholarship; $5,000 Clifford and Nancy Telford Scholarship 

1. Sparsh Desai: $6,000 Charles Hampson Grant Scholarship; $500 Weak Signals Club Scholarship

1. Thomas Holcomb (Marietta, GA): $5,000 Charles Hampson Grant Scholarship, $500 Weak Signals Club Scholarship

1. Jacob Pulsipher (West Richland, WA): $4,500 Charles Hampson Grant Scholarship, $1,000 Ryan Sherrow Memorial Scholarship

1. Joseph Thibodeau (Appling, GA): $4,000 Charles Hampson Grant Scholarship

1. Trevor Burke (Dallas): $3,500 Charles Hampson Grant Scholarship

1. Kyle Albrecht (Fenton, MI): $3,000 Charles Hampson Grant Scholarship

1. Darius Rieger (Cape Elizabeth, ME): $2,500, Charles Hampson Grant Scholarship

1. Julia Minicozzi (Babylon, NY): $2,000, Charles Hampson Grant Scholarship

1. Linda Markham (Carrollton, GA): $1,000 Charles Hampson Grant Scholarship

1. Joshua McCreary (Suffolk, VA): $1,000 Basil and Dorothy Cooper Memorial Scholarship

1. Edward Bukowski (Parkland, FL): $500 Charles Hampson Grant Scholarship

Congratulations tot he Newport News Park Radio Control Club for raising $1,764.00 for the AMA Foundation! What an accomplishment! The Newport News Park Radio Control Club formed a committee and drafted up a proposal on how their club can contribute to the AMA Foundation in support of our mission and vision. The AMA's Mission is “to advance the organizational goals of the Academy of Model Aeronautics through the financial support of its charitable programs.” The AMA's Vision is “to inspire financial support for Aeromodelling as a hobby, sport, and scientific pursuit – a legitimate part of our communities and a necessary component of the aeronautical continuum.” The NNPRCC committee came up with a program called the “AMA Foundation Challenge.” This challenge consists of three primary objectives:

• Promote awareness of the AMA Foundation’s mission and vision
• Provide annual financial support to the AMA Foundation General Fund
• Challenge individuals and organizations to support the AMA Foundation

The first part of the challenge is to promote awareness of the AMA Foundation. To do this, the proposal calls for developing and maintaining a small supply of printed materials to have at club events. These materials will provide information about the AMA and ways to join the club. In addition to the printed materials, electronic materials will be hosted on the club website. This material would provide an overview of how the AMA benefits all model aviation enthusiasts and hyperlinks to the AMA Foundation website. Part two of the proposal is to provide annual financial support. Using club funds, the committee would purchase a “grand prize” item to sell raffle tickets for. The committee will sell raffle tickets for a period of time and after completion of the raffle, the club’s treasury will be reimbursed and all remaining proceeds will be allocated to the AMA Foundation General Fund. In addition to the grand prize auction, featured items will be raffled off exclusively during the club's National Model Aviation Day celebration including a completely ready-to-fly electric trainer, a 1-year club membership, and more! Lastly, the proposal suggests having a sponsored cookout for club members and guests, with prominently placed containers soliciting donations. All proceeds from the sponsored cookout will be allocated to the AMA Foundation General Fund. The final part of the AMA Foundation Challenge is to challenge others. The proposal calls for development of a brief report, to be used for post-event promotion. This report should include images or videos from the AMA Challenge activities before and during an event, a note of appreciation for participants and volunteers, and disclosure of the total proceeds raised. This report should encourage individuals, clubs and other organizations to meet or exceed the efforts put on by the club. The post-event report can be shared with various local and national media outlets. The AMA Foundation encourages other clubs to use the proposal made by the NNPRCC committee as an example to raise money for the foundation.

The Casa Grande RC Flyers were named a "Gold Level Leader Club" for the third year in a row. The club is one of 151 clubs out of over 2,400 clubs to receive this title. The club was recognized in their local paper. The club is largely supported by the city, local businesses and the community. The club changed their schedule in April so their members can use the club airfield at any time. They have also scheduled their 2019-2020 events. The events include a celebration of National Model Aviation Day benefiting the Valley Humane Society, a Fly-in for Hospice benefiting the Hospice Charitable Fund of Central Arizona, a swap meet benefiting the Boys and Girls Clubs of Casa Grande and the club's 7th annual Air Show benefiting the Casa Grande Food Bank. The club will also continue to hold their "Combat Dog Fights" on Thursday mornings during the season. The club offers free lessons to individuals wanting to learn to fly fixed-wing aircraft, drones and helicopters. Details about the club’s events and membership information can be found on the club web site at www.CasaGrandeRCFlyers.com or on the club’s Facebook page.

Terry Wiles and his wife won an AMA Goldberg award with a check for $200. After receiving the award with the check, the Wiles decided that they wanted to give back to the District IX Camp AMA Scholarship Fund. In the fall of 2015, Jim Tiller was new to the AMA Executive Council. Tiller was informed of a young man who would be a great candidate for Camp AMA. After returning home from an event, Tiller had received an $800 donation from the 95th Street Club in Kansas City to go towards money for AMA youth programs. The check was a memorial taken up by the club for one of their longtime members, Darrell Watts. After receiving the check, it was arranged for Matt Carlson to be the first recipient of the District IX Camp AMA Scholarship. With the generosity of local clubs and members like Terry Wiles, five more tuition scholarships have been given since the first. The recipients have been Toby Ray, Denver, CO, Austin Axmann, Kansas City, KS, Ethan Thibault, Rapid City, SD, Morgan Young, Denver, CO and Ashton Newton, Dakota City, NE. In February 2019, Wiles and his wife decided to donate 24 lasered cups from their business which is about $200 worth in their cost. By selling the cups, Wiles figured it would bring in around $480 to the scholarship fund. The cups sold in one day so they lasered an additional 24 cups which also sold in one day. The Wiles expect to raise over $1000 from the original $200 Goldberg check.